The Windhaven Witches Omnibus Edition : Complete Paranormal Suspense Series, Books 1-4 by Carissa Andrews (graded readers txt) 📕

face is a mixture of emotions as she paces from one end of the small kitchen to the other. Both Wade and I watch her closely, anticipating what she might say. There are so many secrets she could be holding onto. Neither of us say a word; we just wait for her to be ready to reveal whatever information she’s ready to share.

After a minute, she stops moving, leans against the sink, and places her hands on the counter behind her. “Last year, we talked a little bit about things, Autumn. Like what happened when you went missing. But you hung up before we could really talk.” Her eyes flick up to me, holding my gaze for a moment. “Not that I’m blaming you at all. Things between us have been so strained because of… Well, it is what it is. However, I knew”—her eyelashes flutter across her cheeks as she looks down—“that day on the phone, I knew something was going on. Something horrible. I could feel it.”

Goosebumps flash across the back of my arms and my eyebrows tug in. Mom has always been incredibly perceptive. Even as a kid I could barely get away with a white lie about eating all of my vegetables without her finding the place I’d dumped them outside. But the way her words linger in the air between us, there’s something much more potent than simply a mother’s sense.

She continues, “There’s so much… I’m not sure where to start in all of this.”

“Start at the beginning,” Wade offers in his soothing way.

Her gaze rises, landing on him momentarily. A question lingers there, but she nods. “The beginning… That’s a place I haven’t cared to visit for quite some time.” Her eyes dart back and forth with her thoughts as she works to pull the pieces together. “Autumn, all this time, you must be wondering why I despised the supernatural world so much. Especially knowing what you know now about your gifts…and your father’s.”

My lips press into a thin line, and I nod. She already knows these questions have lingered in my mind. I’ve even voiced them to her.

“I have lived in the world of the supernatural far longer than you realize. Far longer than you can perhaps comprehend,” she says, dropping her gaze again to the floor.

Alarm bells go off inside my head and I can’t help but push the stool back and stand up. “What do you mean?”

Her sorrowful hazel eyes meet mine and her eyebrows upturn in the middle. She holds her breath and releases it, as if the breath itself was a heavy burden to carry. “Autumn, in times past, before supernatural beings were accepted the way they are, we were often considered to be gods. Particularly those of us who defy the traditional roles of death.”

My brain seizes up and it’s my turn to be flustered. I take another step back from the bar. “Us?”

Wade scoots his own stool back, standing up and preparing to get between us, if need be. His silver eyes dart between us, as if trying to decide who will make the first move.

“Yes, us,” she says, swallowing hard. “I’m sorry, sweet girl. In another life, I was so excited to show you the beauty in our powers. But…”

“Us?” I repeat, my hands flying to my hair as I pull at the red strands. This can’t be happening. There’s no way my mom is a supernatural being. No possible way. I drop my hands, twisting back to her and demand, “If you have powers, what are they? What are you? Prove it.”

“I have many powers. They’ve developed through the ages,” she whispers.

I close my eyes, trying to process her words. Ages?

“Are you saying you’re one of the old gods?” Wade asks, somehow managing to break the chaos clouding my mind and asking a question buried in my thoughts.

My head snaps up just in time to see her flinch.

“No…” I say, raising my hands and backing away. “No. Just, no. You can’t be. I’ve lived with you my whole life. You like your sleep. You hate to argue. You eat eggs, drink protein shakes, and work out. You do Pilates, for crying out loud. You can’t—”

Looking up from beneath her eyebrows, she says, “I’ve gone by many names in my lifetime. But the one that stuck in the pages of history is Hecate. I can’t say it’s my favorite.”

My mouth drops open and my mind goes completely blank. It’s like the entire world I live in, everything about it, has been nothing but one big, fat lie.

For the first time, Mom walks around the counter that was separating us. Wade takes a protective step forward, but the look on my mother’s face makes him step back.

“Autumn, you have to know, there are so many times I wanted to tell you. To explain why you had certain gifts for things, like accidentally resurrecting the neighbor’s cat when you were nine and bringing birds who hit the window back to life. Instead, I had to pretend to ignore them—write them off as completely normal occurrences. It’s gone against every instinct I have to keep silent, but I had to protect you. That’s been my priority since—”

“Gifts? Ignore them? I don’t remember any of that. Until I went to live at Dad’s, I didn’t even know I had supernatural gifts,” I sputter.

Mom shakes her head, placing her hands on my shoulders. “That’s not true.”

“Then why don’t I remember?” I fire back.

“Because I made sure you didn’t,” she whispers, locking eyes with me. “Your memories around those events needed to be a blank slate or the Moirai would sense your growing power; your connection to the forces of life and death. They’d know you were still alive and they’d look for a way to take you from me.”

“But they’re Fate,” Wade sputters. “They create the fabric of reality for every single life. Wouldn’t her thread tell them she’s still alive? Hell, the fact that she is alive—wouldn’t that technically be